Lords Of Chaos

Lords of Chaos

1 death

In 1996, a group of teen-age friends in Fort Myers, Florida, banded
together in a small gang created to "cause chaos and destruction."
They called themselves the Lords of Chaos. The group ran afoul when
they shotgunned to death the school band leader. Three of the teens
have been convicted of participating in the murder. Two others have
been convicted in connection with the group's crime spree.

The Lords of Chaos began its crime spree with assorted arson and
vandalism in April 1996. The night of the slaying, they planned
to burn down the high school gymnasium but Mark Schwebes, the 32-year-old
school band leader caught them outside and said he would report
them the next morning.

One by one, the former Lords of Chaos have taken the witness stand
to testify against Kevin Foster, their ex-leader. Foster, who enjoyed
being called, is accused of shooting Schwebes. After the band leader
busted the teen-agers trying to burn down the gymn, Foster led three
gang members to Schewebe's home to make sure he would not report
them. When Schewebe's answered the door Foster shot him in the face
and again in the buttocks after he fell face-down on the ground.

On the way back from the murder Foster told the three other boys
that they had done a "job well done," and called for a
group hug. "He gave a little chuckle" said, Derek Shields,
now 20. When someone asked Foster whether he thought Schwebes was
dead. "He sure the hell ain't alive," the wanna-be god
answered.

At the time of the slaying, Shields -- who knocked on Schewebe's
door the night of the of the slaying -- was a high school senior
and member of Schwebe's jazz band. "You're all going to do
as I say, or you're going to die. Someone is going to die tonight,"
Foster told them, according to Shields' testimony. Shields pleaded
guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility
of parole. Foster faces the death penaly. The others convicted in
the killing are Peter Magnotti, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to commit first-degree murder and received a 32-year prison sentence,
and Chris Black, who was sentenced to life in prison for a murder
conviction.

Foster's lawyer presented a series of alibi witnesses Foster's
mother and sister. "Kevin was in my home the entire time --
never left," Ruby Foster, said of her son. Prosecutors contend
the gun used to kill Schwebes came from the pawn shop she owned
at the time. Police said the gang planned a trip to Walt Disney
World to kill black tourists. When the group members were arrested,
they were planning an armed robbery and had a stockpile of weapons.
On June 19, 1998, Foster was sentenced to death for the murder of
Mark Schwebes.